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Effingham

The town was settled by members of the Leavitt family of Hampton, New Hampshire, led by Captain John Leavitt, a soldier whose father, Moses, was a prosperous Hampton tavern keeper. From them the settlement first took the name "Leavitt's Town". In 1749, the land was granted by Governor Benning Wentworth, and he renamed it "Effingham" for the Howard family, who were Earls of Effingham and who were related to the Wentworths by marriage. The town was incorporated in 1778.


Effingham includes the villages of Effingham Falls, Effingham (Lord’s Hill), Center Effingham (Drake’s Corner) and South Effingham and has a total area of 39.9 square miles.

North Effingham was set off in 1831 and incorporated as Freedom. By 1859, when the population was 1,252, Effingham Falls had developed into a small mill town, with a woolen factory, five sawmills, three gristmills, and a carriage factory.

Effingham was home to the first normal school in New Hampshire, established in 1830 on the second floor of the Effingham Union Academy Building, erected in 1819. James W. Bradbury, later a U.S. senator from Maine, took charge of the school only on condition that it should be for the "instruction and training of teachers". The idea was his own and, at that time, entirely novel.

Province Lake - https://provincelake.org/about/province-lake/ Effingham NH Connect

For more information, please visit the town website at: https://www.effinghamnh.net

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